in your opinions, what is the best (brightest, clarity) spotting scope out there? right now i have a leupold/wind river 15-45x60 that just doesn't cut it. at the high end of the magnification, it gets real dark. at 300 yards, i can barely make out hits on my krylon painted 18"x18" steel plate. kowa, pentax, swarovski, leica?
spotting scopes
- Thread starter cmillard
- Start date
Moderator
Administrator
Brightest scope would be one of the maksutov/Cassegrain scopes like the Meade. Next would be a 100mm like the Pentax. But Pentax isn't quite as Sharp as the Swarovski 80mm.
Eyepiece makes a big difference remember. With Pentax 100 I could see bullet holes at 1000 with 63-power fixed eyepiece, but not very well with 30-75 power zoom eyepiece.
Best bang for buck is probably 80mm Pentax PF80ED with zoom eyepiece, about $720 for body, $300 for eyepiece current street price. See if you can pick up a cheaper eyepiece on eBay.
Sharpest units, with least distortion, overall right now are probably the 88mm Kowa Prominar Flourite and the 82mm Leica APO. But both are very, very expensive. And the Leica only has a 50X eyepiece.
I wish I could fit my 63X Pentax eyepiece to an 88mm Kowa.
Eyepiece makes a big difference remember. With Pentax 100 I could see bullet holes at 1000 with 63-power fixed eyepiece, but not very well with 30-75 power zoom eyepiece.
Best bang for buck is probably 80mm Pentax PF80ED with zoom eyepiece, about $720 for body, $300 for eyepiece current street price. See if you can pick up a cheaper eyepiece on eBay.
Sharpest units, with least distortion, overall right now are probably the 88mm Kowa Prominar Flourite and the 82mm Leica APO. But both are very, very expensive. And the Leica only has a 50X eyepiece.
I wish I could fit my 63X Pentax eyepiece to an 88mm Kowa.
cole: Finally got tired of not being able to see 6mm holes at 400 yd and beyond ( in the "white" under poor light and/or mirage), cried once, and bought a new Nikon Fieldscope 111, ED glass, 82 mm objective, 25 to 75 eyepiece. Am now able to spot 6mm in the black under good light and no mirage. I may have given up a little with the variable eyepiece, compared to the fixed power, but it's more important, to me, to be able to reduce magnification when the mirage gets to be a problem , 40x being the "best" choice then. Overall, am very happy with the Nikon, and chose it after reading some of the reviews, on this site, and other places.
I have an 80-mm Kowa 821 and the Prominar 88mm Kowa just puts it to shame. At 1000 yards I can pick out mirage with the 88mm that I can not see with the 821. Buy the best first and don't look back!!
ERIC
ERIC
Upgrades & Donations
This Forum's expenses are primarily paid by member contributions. You can upgrade your Forum membership in seconds. Gold and Silver members get unlimited FREE classifieds for one year. Gold members can upload custom avatars.
Click Upgrade Membership Button ABOVE to get Gold or Silver Status.
You can also donate any amount, large or small, with the button below. Include your Forum Name in the PayPal Notes field.
To DONATE by CHECK, or make a recurring donation, CLICK HERE to learn how.
Click Upgrade Membership Button ABOVE to get Gold or Silver Status.
You can also donate any amount, large or small, with the button below. Include your Forum Name in the PayPal Notes field.
To DONATE by CHECK, or make a recurring donation, CLICK HERE to learn how.